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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23552017">Things I’d like to do every day…</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/pixiealtaira/pseuds/pixiealtaira'>pixiealtaira</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>30 Days of Lists challenge [25]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Glee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 07:27:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,214</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23552017</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/pixiealtaira/pseuds/pixiealtaira</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt 25      Things I’d like to do every day…</p>
<p>Sometimes one needs a fairy godmother.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>30 Days of Lists challenge [25]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1679446</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Things I’d like to do every day…</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kurt listened to Isabelle laugh as he sat beside her.  The theater was filling quickly but it wasn’t much a problem. Their seats were the best, really.  He wasn’t sure how the woman had managed, but he wasn’t going to ask either.  And he certainly wasn’t going to complain.</p>
<p>His suit was classic.  He wore a light grey to compliment Isabelle’s steel plum gown, with a very dark plum bowtie.  His shoes cost more than his rent and Isabelle told him he could keep them, they were several seasons old and thus not getting much use in photo shoots anymore and could be retired from the vault.</p>
<p>“So?” Isabelle asked. “What do you think so far?”</p>
<p>“Isabelle, we are at the opening night for what promises to the best new musical in years…I can’t wait.  I can’t believe you brought me…you had such better choices.” Kurt said with a self-depreciating smile.</p>
<p>“Somehow I doubt that, darling.  You were my first choice.”</p>
<p>Kurt laughed. “And I am now certain you are lying.”</p>
<p>Isabella swatted Kurt’s shoulder.  “I am not.  Granted the reason I asked is multi-faceted.   First, you make the most delicious arm candy in that suit. Second, you need a break and something fun and good in your life.  Finally, you needed to be reminded what New York has to offer, Kurt.  This is what you can have here.”</p>
<p>Kurt thought Isabelle had wanted to say more but she was approached by one of the photographers they had recently worked with at Vogue.com and the rest of the time before the start of the play was spent talking to people Isabelle worked with and networking, pretty much…however it was in a manner Kurt actually enjoyed.</p>
<p>Then the house lights went down and the curtain swished open and the stage lights went up and the music swelled and everything was fabulously magical.</p>
<p>Isabelle had to pull him back at least four times before intermission because he had started leaning forward to far and was close to falling.</p>
<p>Isabelle dragged Kurt to a standing position during intermission, even though they didn’t leave their seats, and made him bounce on his toes a bit.</p>
<p>“How is the play?” she asked.</p>
<p>Kurt sighed and resisted twirling around with his hands out.  “It is everything a musical should be.  It is fantastic.  I love it!”</p>
<p>“Just think, you’d be missing this if you go to Lima and stay?” Isabelle said.</p>
<p>Kurt leaned against the chair in front of his. “But Lima has Rachel who says she needs us and…and Blaine…and this is a once in a long while thing but those…those are everyday things.”</p>
<p>“They are…and remember what every day was like when it was every day?  Kurt, you are just remembering the good times and completely blocking all the bad.  Remember Blaine everyday…what was it really like?”</p>
<p>“But the therapist said…”</p>
<p>“The therapist you left after your second meeting with her when she told you your dad didn’t care about you at all and blamed you for his true son’s death?” Isabelle asked. “You thought she was wrong about that, what makes you think she was right about anything she said to you?”</p>
<p>‘But she echoed what Blaine said when we were having problems right after I was bashed….” Kurt said.</p>
<p>“And you thought he was wrong then, even though you then went and catered to him much more than you ought to have done…as was mentioned by every gay friend who cared about YOU at the time.  “</p>
<p>“The guy at the speed dating said I wasn’t over my ex.” Kurt said.</p>
<p>“The self-proclaimed psychic you met at speed dating, Kurt.” Isabelle said.  “If one of our photographers who you had only met for 5 seconds as you entered the room came up to you and told you you should never sing again, without even hearing you sing or even talk, because they just ‘knew’ you shouldn’t, would you believe them?”</p>
<p>“Well, no.” Kurt said.</p>
<p>“Why listen to the speed dating guy?” Isabelle said.</p>
<p>Kurt sighed.</p>
<p>“Kurt, darling, it’s hard.  I know.  You have been abandoned and your backup support had been chased away long before.  But, if you go running now…you’ll have taught them both that you’ll always give them precedence over you.  YOUR needs will never matter.”</p>
<p>Kurt sighed again. “I see your point…and everyday was hard with both, but it is just as hard without a lot of days.  This isn’t every day.  This is as much a dream as wanting the good times with Rachel and Blaine without any of the bad….maybe they’d fixed the bad.”</p>
<p>“Kurt, do you really think they’ve fixed the bad?  Has either called you and apologized?  Or even called to talk about the issues?”</p>
<p>Kurt was silent.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I didn’t think so.” Isabell looked at Kurt and met his eyes. “What if this could be every day though?   Maybe not as spectacular as this night each time, but living in New York and going to the theater and concerts and art shows and lectures and festivals and museums?”</p>
<p>Kurt laughed. “I wish.  Not in my budget I’m afraid.”</p>
<p>The lights flickered and Kurt settled back into his seat with a sigh.  The second half of the show was just as wonderful as the first, but Kurt’s mind kept sliding back to Rachel and the mess living with her had been and how she didn’t listen to him at all during the whole year or more prior but how he’d had to jump through hoops for her almost always.  And to Blaine and the constant fighting for the last several months before the breakup…heck from the time Blaine moved to New York if not before…maybe even as far back as senior year.  The ‘my way or no way’ crap and the whole ‘alpha male’ declaration crap and…scandals…and Sebastian and the play and yeah.</p>
<p>When the play was over and the last curtain called cheered for ecstatically by the whole of the audience, Isabelle turned to Kurt again.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry.  I think I ruined your evening. I didn’t even have to grab you once during the second half because you’d tried to lean into the action on stage.”</p>
<p>“No!” Kurt shouted. “No…you just gave me things to think about.”</p>
<p>“Well…pause your thinking because we haven’t finished our treat yet. Come along, come along.”</p>
<p>Isabelle grabbed Kurt’s hand and pulled him along with her as she wove through the crowd and dragged him up with her onto the stage and back behind the curtains.</p>
<p>The backstage was still busy…people were moving about, placing props where they needed to be for the start of the next performance, resetting effects, sweeping up the stage and wings. Actors were rushing back to their dressing rooms, undoing sections of their costumes on their way.</p>
<p>A tall man with glasses that were sliding down his nose was standing and talking to another man, dressed in black, and pointing to what looked to be the script.</p>
<p>“Paulo!” Isabelle called out.</p>
<p>The man with the glasses looked towards them and beamed.  He pointed a few more thing out to the man he’d been talking to quickly, and then rushed their way.  He swept Isabelle into a hug as soon as he got close enough to do so.</p>
<p>“Paulo, this is Kurt Hummel.” Isabelle said, turning the man’s attention towards Kurt. “Kurt, this is Paulo Gabrielli, the writer and costume designer for the show.  He also helped write the songs and music.  I want to catch Eliza before she heads too far.  Kurt, could you do an interview?  Think about what you would ask for an interview about the costumes and then as in in-depth with the writer…Paulo will let you record it on your phone.”</p>
<p>Isabelle kissed Paulo’s cheek and patted Kurt’s before dashing off.</p>
<p>“Umm, Hello…let me get my phone out and ready I guess.”</p>
<p>Kurt pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned it on, finding the recording app Isabelle had insisted he download a few days before and starting in up.</p>
<p>“Hi, I’m Kurt Hummel and I’m speaking with Paulo Gabrielli on the opening night of his new musical.  First off, it is a great pleasure to meet you.  The show was brilliant.  The music is so catching I’m going to be singing it for weeks, probably just randomly. I really loved the first number and the finale…and the number that Reed sang while waiting for news about the others and the number that Lane sang at the school.  Oh, and the costumes were exquisite. The mix between futuristic and renaissance and steampunk was simply amazing. And the characters were phenomenal the whole show.  I mean, they were incredible.  The actors never lost energy because they were so well written and interesting. I loved how you took stereotypes and added another stereotype not usually seen with them and then layered on quirks to create such astounding characters that everyone will be able to know.  It was just a joy to be here and see the show tonight. Oh,..hmm…are interviewers allowed to rave when interviewing?  Isabelle ought to have left more instructions.”</p>
<p>Paulo laughed. “ Thank you Kurt,  I am rather enjoying your review, so I don’t mind at all.”</p>
<p>Kurt chuckled.  “Isabelle might if I haven’t actually let you speak.  So…hmm…what would an interviewer typically ask….hmmm…”</p>
<p>“What would YOU like to ask?” Paulo said.</p>
<p>“Oh…well, I really was impressed with your characters.  So often what you read and see in theater really plays into stereotypes and keeps characters there.  I understand the reason…easier to act and engage audiences when you can draw on the stereotype to do some of the work so you have to get across less in your short amount of time, but sometimes it makes for …not dull really, but repetitive…characters.  I love the mix you built into your characters, though.  I would seriously sell my kidney to play Reed or Max, and I think I actually could do so without it being ‘too big a stretch for the audience’s imagination’, as a friend often tells me casting me in major role would be.  But back to the topic…So… I guess my question would be what was your inspiration and was it difficult to write them?”</p>
<p>Paulo smiled and Kurt felt much more at ease. “I looked around at my friends and I noticed that I have a lot of friends who really fit quite squarely into certain stereotypes, but each also had other near stereotypical qualities as well, and everyone has their own little quirks.  I want to point out the most the quirks aren’t written in, I asked the actors to pick their characters quirks and we built them into the script. Some characters are based off friends’ stereotype combos, like Reed’s flamboyancy mixed with total comic geek, but others like Lane are mixes that just wanted to be when I was writing.”</p>
<p>Kurt smiled.  “I liked Lane’s super smarts that she couldn’t hold in mixed with the ultimate sport star. I also thought you caught the feel of the end of high school and the first years of university very well, without making it too caricaturized  in any extreme.“</p>
<p>“That was a hard balance,” Paulo said. “I had to figure out what I thought a futuristic post-apocalyptic high school would be like without making it repetitive or cartoon like.  I looked at high schools in the US throughout history and figured what aspects we’ve just kept a tight hold of and were not likely to let go of and then worked from there.”</p>
<p>“I think it worked.” Kurt said.  “What was your inspiration for the costumes?”</p>
<p>“Don’t laugh to hard…but the first costume was an accident.  We were going futuristic space girl…wired circle skirt and lots of metallic cloth, and the pattern got mixed with the bodice of a dress from a play set in Elizabethan times…and the seamstress just sewed what she was given.  I was so mad at first but then Louis, who plays Reed, saw it and said “but look….” And dressed the girl who played Lane in it.  Then we all started adding more steampunk type stuff and soon the whole costume design was reborn into something much less an overdone look.”</p>
<p>“Awesome.” Kurt said. “Is there any message you would like people to come away from the show with?”</p>
<p>“I want people to come away with a sense that whatever life tosses your way can be dealt with when surrounded by good friends, and I hope a sense of what good friends are and can be.  That love is more than just romance and sometimes the most epic love stories don’t ever involve romantic love.”</p>
<p>Kurt smiled and then tilted his head. “I’m not sure what to ask now.  I really need to be allowed more notice for something like this…”</p>
<p>Paulo laughed again. “Fine, I will ask questions.  How do you know Isabelle?”</p>
<p>“I work at vogue.com.  Right now I work with the wardrobe department, but that job needs full time and I can’t manage it much longer.  I was only able to keep up with it because my work-study was mornings and weekends.  That was only six weeks though and I need another work-study project to finish the work-study hours.  Isabelle is asking around, as are several professors.  We all thought the one I signed up for would last longer, but funding was cut. I want to still do something at Vogue, but we’ll see.”</p>
<p>“What are you studying?” Paulo asked.</p>
<p>“I am a Musical Theater Major at NYADA.” Kurt said.</p>
<p>“Ah…hence the selling of body parts for the role. And you think you could do it justice?” Paulo asked.</p>
<p>“Oh, he could.” Isabelle said from behind them. “Kurt’s vocals are incredible…and I think he could bring it acting wise.  Did you ask some questions, Kurt?”</p>
<p>“I asked a few, but I’m not sure they are what you are looking for since I don’t know what the interview was for.”</p>
<p>“Well…the editor for the print magazine wants to do a page in every issue that focuses on the arts and then more detailed and focused articles on line.  She has someone here in New York for museums and books coming out and then someone who would cover legislature and stuff like that.  However the person she asked to cover the theater scene will only commit to Operas and Ballets.  She asked me to ask you if you’d like to cover Broadway, off Broadway, and concerts.  This could be an ‘everyday’ thing, Kurt.  Maybe not this…opening nights to the biggest shows, but going to see a play or concert or band four of five nights a week…could be an everyday thing.”</p>
<p>“No way.” Kurt said.</p>
<p>Isabelle laughed. “Yes way. You were our first choice. You have the background to know if something is good or not in a technical manner, you have the ear for music needed.   The company would fund the tickets…at least two or three a show.  What we want is a three to six paragraph review of whatever you are sent to, with recommendation or not and then a more in-depth piece in which you interview someone associated with the show or concert.   Much of what we send you to will probably not be weekend showings.”</p>
<p>“That’s fine…but…would my band cause a conflict of interest?  We were planning on starting it up again when everyone was back in town.”</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t think so…but I’ll run that by the powers that be.  Got enough for a write-up?”</p>
<p>“One moment.  Mr. Gabrielli, if you could pick one of the costume pieces to wear around town, which would it be and why?”</p>
<p>“Oh, good question.  I love the way the waistcoat for Max turned out.  To wear out in public I would thin the trim, I think, but I would wear it around in a heartbeat.  The colors are some of my favorites…especially that plum.  I also love the boots we found for Rupert.  I did buy myself some of those.”</p>
<p>“Brilliant.”</p>
<p>“Congratulations, Kurt.  I hope you take the job and I hope you have a great time with it.  Maybe I’ll see you around on your journey. Isabelle, it was a pleasure as always.  Call me.” Paulo said as he waved. “Now I need to go make some last minute checks. Goodnight.”</p>
<p>Kurt watched as the man went further into the backstage warren.</p>
<p>“I can’t believe I met the writer of this show!” Kurt squealed.</p>
<p>“I am serious, Kurt.  If what you send in for tonight’s show is what the editor wants, the job could be yours.” Isabelle said.</p>
<p>“Shouldn’t you be looking into your current writers or even your repeat free lancers?  I don’t have the journalism background, Isabelle.” Kurt said.</p>
<p>“You have written for us before and the editors have liked your style and you have the other part we need.  The problem we were having was that fashion journalist tended to not be able to review a show or piece of art because they didn’t have the background in that area.  Oh, they could write “I liked it” but they couldn’t explain why.  You have shown the ability to be straightforward, to put your personal likes and dislikes aside and see the technical value, and you have decent taste.”</p>
<p>“Ok.  I’ll try.”</p>
<p>“Now it’s my turn to say Brilliant.” Isabelle said.</p>
<p>Kurt’s hand flew to his forehead. “Oh God.  I kept repeating myself didn’t I?”</p>
<p>“I’m sure you were fine.  In fact I think Paulo was as enchanted by you as you were by him.”</p>
<p>Kurt laughed. “I doubt it.  Thanks Isabelle.  This is the life I dreamed of.  Shows to go to and the ability to go, jobs I actually like, university courses that make me want to go…the ability to be in a space without anyone staring at me no matter how I am dressed.  The freedom to hold hands with a significant other without fearing for my life…clubs to go to.  Things to do.”</p>
<p>“I know it’s hard right now, Kurt.  I know your friends pretty much abandoned you, at least the ones from Ohio.  But…you have others, you just have to reach out and let them in.  You have to make the effort to allow people back into your life. And aren’t your band mates coming back to town soon?”</p>
<p>Kurt nodded.</p>
<p>“Next time someone asks you to head out with them…just go.”</p>
<p>“Got it.  Thanks again, Isabelle.  You really are my fairy godmother.”</p>
<p>Isabelle kissed Kurt’s cheek.  “Come on, I’ve got permission for you to talk to the guy who played Reed and the girl who played Lane.”</p>
<p>Kurt allowed himself to be pulled towards the dressing rooms, excited for his future for the first time since he’d been bashed, pretty much.  Isabelle was giving him interview question ideas and the smell of a lit stage and the sounds of activity eased something Kurt hadn’t acknowledged was hurt.  This was worth staying in New York.</p>
<p> </p>
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